


Happy Birthday, Alexander.

by AtowncalledMalec



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, malec - Fandom
Genre: AU, Alec Lightwood's Birthday, Blind date scenario, Bonding, Everyone is older, F/F, F/M, Familly get together, First Meetings, Future Fic, M/M, Mystery gifts, Older Alec Lightwood, Older Magnus Bane, Surprises, birthday fic, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-17 09:14:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20618588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtowncalledMalec/pseuds/AtowncalledMalec
Summary: Alec's 40th Birthday starts off normal enough. Until he receives a mystery gift from an equally mysterious but beautiful person. Things only get stranger from there. But isn't that how the best ones always start out?This work is not to be reposted anywhere else or translated without my permission.





	Happy Birthday, Alexander.

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Italiano available: [Buon Compleanno, Alexander!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20655449) by [kate_kate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate_kate/pseuds/kate_kate)

> Everyone is older in this. And Luke and Maryse are everyone's parents.

Alec Lightwood juggled his sandwiches and the cups of coffee he held as he jammed his key into the lock of his front door, letting himself into his apartment. Chucking his keys onto the console table, he toed his boots off and crossed his living room. Flopping down onto the couch, he set his lunch out on the coffee table. 

Happily shredding the paper to get to his sandwich, he pulled his phone out to check his voicemail, set it on loud-speaker and started tucking into his turkey and swiss footlong, with all the trimmings.

_ “Hey, Big Brother. Be here at six. Don’t be late. And wear something nice.” _

Alec rolled his eyes before another message from his sister followed the first.

_ “And don’t even think about eating anything before you come.” _

Alec looked down at his sandwich, a small flash of guilt running through him. His sister expected him at her place at six o’clock, hungry and ready to eat. It was the reason he was eating the sandwich. 

The guilt soon died away with another bite. Arriving at Izzy’s house hungry meant leaving Izzy’s house hungry. She couldn’t cook to save herself. He wasn’t even sure how her kids were still alive.

_ “Oh, and I love you. Happy birthday, Mi Hermano.”  _ A third message blasted out.

Every year, a member of his family and their partner would take it upon themselves to organize a get-together for his birthday like he was some sad loner and every four years, it was Izzy and her husband, Simon’s turn. Which meant eating before he left. 

It was a big one for Alec, the big 4-0. No doubt they had a huge party all planned out, complete with a self-catered buffet of inedible horrors. Not that he would say that out loud.

Alec tucked into another bite of what he called his Leapyear Birthday Sandwich when a knock at the door had him snapping his voicemail off. Barely swallowing the mammoth bite as he crossed the room and swung the door open, he almost choked on it.

_ Hot!  _ Alec’s brain yelled at him as he gave the gorgeous Asian guy who had knocked on his door an elevator stare. 

The guy's black hair was shaved at the sides and longer on top - stylishly spiked. He had the prettiest eyes Alec had ever seen, deep brown, with a subtle dusting of black eyeshadow and liner on his lids. The guy’s tan slacks and black polo shirt hinted at a muscular frame and he was a few inches shorter than his own 6’3 height.

Alec wasn’t sure why the logo on the guy’s shirt was so familiar, two flowers with the stems entwined to form a heart shape, but the name badge beneath it read  ** _Magnus._ ** Magnus was holding a red rose and a stack of small envelopes in his hand. Or had been, until they had tumbled to the floor in a cascade of white.

Magnus scrambled to pick up the envelopes that he had dropped. Who wouldn’t when confronted by the beauty who had opened the door? Letting his eyes drag up the guy’s body when he stood, he fixated on the beautiful eyes that gawped at him; hazel, surrounded by thick lashes and laugh lines. The messy black hair was cute and the stubble was hot!

“Alexander Lightwood?” Magnus asked when he’d gotten a grip of himself. As unprofessional as it was, he couldn’t help looking Mr. Lightwood over once more. His mind sank into the gutter when he saw a blob of what he hoped was mayo on the guy’s chin. Brushing his thumb over his own chin with a pointed look, he watched Mr. Lightwood wipe it away.

“Yeah. Uh, Alec. Alec Lightwood,” Alec said, wiping the mortifying remnants of his lunch on his pants before reaching out to shake Magnus' hand. Instead of receiving it, Magnus placed the rose in his outstretched palm, perfectly polished fingers lingering for a moment before withdrawing.

Magnus cursed himself for not numbering them as he shuffled through the envelopes. The clients had left very specific instructions, dictating that he was supposed to hand them over in a certain order. That was now impossible. They had fallen out of order when he’d dropped them. As the envelopes all looked the same, he selected one at random.

“Thanks?” Alec said uncertainly when Magnus silently handed him an envelope and turned to walk away. It sounded more like a question. “Wait,” he said, stepping out into the hallway when Magnus kept walking.

The delivery guy disappeared around the corner, leaving Alec standing there, staring down at the flower and note in his hand. When it didn’t look like Magnus was coming back, he closed the door and wandered back to the couch.

Opening the note, half curious, half disappointed that the guy had just walked off, everything turned to confusion. The card inside the envelope had a single letter written on it in an elegant script. 

X

Alec flipped it over to find the other side of the white card blank. Deciding that someone was playing a stupid joke on him, he dropped the flower on the table and returned to his sandwich and voicemails. The fleeting but embarrassing interaction with Magnus played on his mind while his mother’s voice rang through the room.

_ “Alec, happy birthday! I can’t believe my oldest boy is 40 already. I feel so old. And not even a grandchild from you to show for it.” _

Alec repressed a sigh, longing for the days when his biggest worry was coming out to his parents. The older he got, the more she pushed for him to find a husband and start adopting a football team’s worth of kids. Her husband, Luke, came to his rescue down the phone.

_ “Leave the guy alone, Maryse. He’ll settle down when he’s ready.” _

_ “We’re not getting any younger! His children will be playing with our zimmer frames by the time…” _

The message cut out with a loud beep. 

Alec groaned. Maryse always asked him for grandchildren, conveniently forgetting that she already five from his siblings. 

Izzy and Simon had nine-year-old twin girls, Sofia and Rebecca.

His brother, Jace, and his girlfriend, Clary, had three children; a two-year-old daughter, Grace, a four-year-old son, Oliver, and their eldest son, James, was eleven. 

Even his youngest brother, Max, and his fiance, Declan, were in the process of adopting a baby girl. Baby Jessica would be there any day, bringing the total up to six. Not that Max had told Maryse that they had finally made it to the top of the list. He and Declan were waiting to surprise the rest of the family.

_ Only me and Maia left, _ Alec thought. He wasn’t the only one Maryse was pestering. His sister, Maia, got the same pressure at every available opportunity. 

Their family was a hodgepodge of people but they all loved each other as though they were blood. Jace had been the son of a family friend, adopted before Maryse and their dad, Robert, had divorced. 

Maia’s parents had abandoned her as a child and she had been dumped into the system. After Luke -a cop- had picked her up for several minor brushes with the law, he had ended up fostering her. When Luke and Maryse had married fifteen years ago, they’d adopted Maia too.

Another message from Maryse interrupted Alec’s reverie.

_ “I just want you to be happy. I love you. See you tonight.” _

A sigh did escape this time. His family acted like he was an eternal Batchelor. Just because it had been a year since he’d had a serious relationship, they acted like he was going to die alone. Anyone he brought home was treated like the second coming, his savior from a life of misery and loneliness. 

Except Alec wasn’t lonely or miserable. Sure, having a boyfriend was nice but he had his friends and family, and the occasional fling. 

Another knock, as he finished his sandwich, had his head snapping around to stare at the door. Crossing the room once more, he peered through the peephole, his stomach lurching a little when he saw that the flower delivery guy had returned. Wiping his mouth on the hem of his shirt just in case, he opened the door.

“Mr. Lightwood, we meet again,” Magnus grinned, holding a second red rose and envelope out. He took a moment to inspect Mr. Lightwood a little more closely, noting the crease in the middle of the guy’s forehead. The confused expression made him look adorable.

“Wait, who are these from?” Alec asked, reaching out to grab hold of Magnus’ arm when the delivery guy turned away once more. Now that he got a closer look, he noted a flash of gray strands in Magnus’ bangs, leaving him to wonder if they were natural or died. Magnus had deep laugh lines around his eyes and some forming around his mouth.

Alec decided that Magnus was probably around his own age, maybe a little older. He was gorgeous.

“I’m afraid I can’t discuss that. Confidentiality,” Magnus said with a wave of his free hand, pulling his arm, not ungently, from Alec’s grasp.

“But…” Alec could barely concentrate, too busy fixing the graceful gesture of Magnus’ hand in his mind. “Wait!” he said when Magnus once again turned away and walked down the hallway. The man’s walk was just as graceful as the hand gesture had been. And his ass was a work of art. 

Pulling a card out of the second envelope, Alec stared at it. It was just as mysterious as the first, One letter, in the same elegant script as before on an otherwise blank white card. 

I

That was it. That’s all there was.

Slamming the front door closed, Alec crossed the room and scooped his phone up. Scrolling through his contacts, he found his brother’s number and dialed, barely waiting for a “hello” before launching into a question. 

“Jace, did you send me flowers?” Alec asked, thinking Jace was playing a trick on him.

_ “Why would I send you flowers? I made you a new watch for your birthday. Happy birthday, by the way,” _ came Jace’s reply, swiftly followed by Clary’s voice in the background, admonishing his brother for telling him what the gift was.

“Uh, thanks,” Alec said, waiting for them to finish bickering before he explained what had happened. He looked out the window as he talked, spotting a van with the same logo on the side that was on Magnus’ polo shirt.

Alec almost missed Jace’s next reply as he watched Magnus open the side door of the van and collect a red flower from the back. He watched Magnus lean against the van, and squinting, realized Magnus was checking the time on his watch, before Jace’s words registered.

“What?” Alec jerked, almost pulling the window blind off.

_ “I said, I’m going to ask Clary tonight. Can you bring the ring?” _ Jace whispered to him through the phone.

“Finally! I finished it months ago,” Alec said, grinning as he peeked out the window again. Magnus was still standing there, checking his watch.

_ “I know, I was just waiting for the right time. When we were all together.” _

“We’re all together every day,” Alec frowned with a shake of his head.

_ “Not at work, dumbass! What’s romantic about that?”  _

Alec could practically hear Jace rolling his eyes. His attention, however, was snagged when he saw Magnus straighten up and start walking towards his building. 

_ “Shit, Clary’s coming… Izzy’s hired outside caterers for tonight so don’t eat anything before you come.” _

“What?” Alec asked, crossing the room to peek out of the peephole. His stomach flipped when Magnus strode down the hallway towards his door. The last thing he heard before Jace hung up was Clary once more admonishing Jace for blabbing. A knock on the door didn’t leave any time for fretting over Jace’s parting words.

“Magnus, is it?” Alec asked by way of greeting when he swung the door open. When the delivery guy nodded he asked, “Can you just give me a hint? Please? There’s no name on the notes.”

Magnus pursed his lips, debating whether Alec’s plea was worth risking his business’ reputation over. A hint couldn’t hurt. “Perhaps you have a couple of secret admirers, Mr. Lightwood. I can certainly see why.”

“Alec,” he corrected automatically, his brain going 100 miles an hour as he tried to work out if Magnus was flirting with him. Magnus was definitely checking him out. He couldn’t deny that he was doing the same thing. Again. 

“Alec,” Magnus said, handing a red rose and a third note over. “Do you work with your hands, Alec?” he asked when one of Alec’s callused fingers brushed over his, sending a shiver of goosebumps over his skin.

“I’m a jeweler. All of my family are jewelers. We own a store a few blocks away,” Alec replied. Years of cutting a polishing precious stones had left his fingers callused.

Alec and Izzy specialized in Jewelry, Jace made watches, Clary managed the store, Max was their buyer, Simon their accountant, and Maia and Declan worked the sales floor. The store had been in Maryse's family for generations. She had trained them all herself before she had retired.

“Maybe I know the place?” Magnus asked, his eyes flicking to Alec’s nice watch and the couple of rings that Alec wore. No wedding or engagement ring, he noted. 

“Trueblood Family Jewelers?” Alec asked. He noted that Magnus was wearing a few necklaces under his shirt and a few rings adorned his fingers. Nice ones. On all but his ring finger. Not that he noticed whether Magnus was spoken for or not.

“I’ve heard of it but never been in there before. I’ll have to check it out, sometime,” Magnus said with a wink before turning on his heel.

Alec groaned, wanting to smack his head into the door when Magnus disappeared once more. Ripping into the envelope, he dashed across the room once more to the window, to see what Magnus was doing, feeling very much like the ball in a drawn-out tennis match.

Magnus was digging around in the back of his van once more. Ducking out of sight when Magnus turned and looked up at the building, he settled for looking at the note, not wanting to be caught creeping.

D

He scratched his head, trying to decipher what the notes meant. Or who they could be from. Another glance out of the window saw Magnus once more waiting by his van, checking his watch. Nothing made sense. But he couldn’t complain too much, it looked like he was going to get another visite from Magnus.

The front door opening had Alec spinning on the spot. “Oh, it’s you,” he muttered when Maia slouched into his apartment, still in her sleep shorts, Bladerunner sweatshirt, and slippers, her hair wrapped up in a scarf.

“Love you too,” Maia mumbled before a huge yawn took over. She shuffled over to her adoptive brother, shoved a card into his hand and pressed a kiss to his cheek before dropping onto his couch.

“Feet!” Alec said when Maia propped her feet on his coffee table, almost knocking everything off in the process. “Have you only just got up?” he asked, only scowling a little when Maia refused to take her feet off of his table.

“I did a shift in The Hunter’s Moon last night after work. I didn’t finish the close down until four this morning. You know how long it takes for me to wind down when I get home,” Maia said, spotting the roses on the coffee table when she managed to drag her eyes open.

“You work too hard,” Alec said distractedly, still watching Magnus out of the window, his birthday card, forgotten.

“Say’s you,” Maia said. Alec worked just as hard as she did, staying at the store hours after the rest of them went home. Besides, she was saving up to put herself through school. The family business was great but it didn’t hold a candle to her passion for marine biology. “What’s going on? I’ve heard your door go like three times in the last hour,” she asked. 

The sight of a footlong and a cup of coffee on the coffee table lit her face up.  _ Breakfast! _ She thought, even if it was after three in the afternoon. 

“Someone sent me flowers,” Alec said turning to watch Maia snatch up the sandwich and coffee he had bought her. A full-body shudder ran through him as he watched her cross to his kitchen and put the food and coffee in his microwave. She had her own kitchen, in her own apartment, across the hall from his but she still insisted on eating here at every available opportunity. 

“There’s salad and mayo on that,” Alec said, cringing at the thought of soggy salad and warm mayonnaise.

“It tastes better when the cheese melts,” Maia shrugged. She didn’t have to ask what was on her sandwich, Alec was the only one who ever remembered her order. Jace insisted that everyone loved the meatball marinara as much as he did and Izzy always forgot the pickles. Max refused to even eat from the place. 

Maia didn’t bother with a plate, carrying the sandwich and drink over to the coffee table in its wrapper. A plate appeared before she could even set it down. She hadn’t even seen Alec move. Digging into her sandwich she stared curiously at the three roses on the table next to her plate before a knock at the door snagged her attention.

“Hey, I was gonna drink that!” Maia growled around the mouthful of food when Alec snatched her coffee up off of the table, right out of her reaching hand.

“There’s instant in the jar,” Alec said over his shoulder. He happily accepted the rose and note as soon as he opened the door and presented Magnus with the to-go cup in exchange. “Soy Latte?” he asked, grinning when Magnus blinked at him.

“Thank you, Alexander,” Magnus said, accepting the coffee that was handed to him, a little taken aback by the kind gesture. The coffee tasted like feet when he took a sip but it was the thought that counted. “You should put those in a vase,” he said, nodding to roses that had been left on the coffee table behind Alec. 

Magnus wilted a little when he saw a beautiful woman in her pajamas, staring at him. Her mouth was hanging wide open, giving him a spectacular view of her lunch.

“Maybe the flowers are from your girlfriend,” Magnus said, nodding to the woman, pulling a smile on for her. Just from the few interactions they’d had, he had thought Alec was interested.

“Girlfr… her?” Alec asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. “Ugh, no! She’s my sister,” he said with a revolted shudder. “And even if she wasn’t, she’s not my type. Too girly,” he added, emphasizing the part where Maia was a girl.

Magnus wondered why relief shot through him when Alec said that the woman was his sister. His gaze flicked from Alec’s pale skin to the woman’s mocha complexion and back again before he shrugged. His own family was made up of a beautiful black woman and her daughter, a grumpy old white guy and an even grumpier kid from the heart of Mexico. He was Asian. Family was what you made of it. 

“I could still kick your ass,” Maia grumbled, shoving Alec out of the way to introduce herself when Alec clearly wasn’t going to. “Maia,” she said, shaking the delivery guy’s hand.

“Magnus. I apologize for the crossed wires,” Magnus said, smiling when Maia waved his apology away. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Maia,” he said before turning on his heel.

Alec wanted to call after Magnus but he knew that he would never hear the end of it if he did so in front of Maia. Especially not if she decided to call Izzy and Clary. He could see her patting her pockets down. 

As inconspicuously as he could, Alec drifted over to the window, peeking out when Maia went back to her sandwich. The latest card, he discovered, after a cursory glance, was the same as the rest.

B

Another four cards, accompanied by four more red roses arrived at twenty-minute intervals over the next hour and twenty minutes. Each time, he would practically skid across the room to accept them while Maia watched him with growing glee, teasing him mercilessly each time he closed the door.

The collection of cards grew, each sporting a new letter in the same elegant script. 

A, O, G, R 

Magnus had even bought a vase up with one delivery, stating that his flowers were not to be put in the pint glass that Alec suggested.

As soon as Magnus brought the ninth flower and card, and disappeared back down the hallway, Alec checked out the window again. Seeing that Magnus wasn’t leaving, he all but dragged Maia across the hall to her own apartment. He desperately wanted to get to know Magnus a little more and find out who had sent him. There was no way that was happening with Maia there though.

“Wait…” Maia muttered, stumbling through her front door. She was enjoying herself far too much to leave now.

“You won’t have time to get ready for tonight if you stay here,” Alec said before dashing into his own apartment. He wouldn’t either. It was four-thirty and he didn’t know how many more deliveries to expect. 

Leaving the front door open, he dashed into his bathroom and took the quickest shower of his life. All he knew was that he had another seven minutes before Magnus came back if the deliveries that he’d received so far were anything to go by.

Magnus returned bang on time, to see that the door was wide open and Alec or Maia weren’t anywhere in sight. The door  _ was _ open so he shrugged and ducked into the living room. He placed the new rose in the vase on the coffee table and propped a new card against it before heading for the door.

“Sorry, the door was…” Magnus stuttered to a stop when Alec skidded into the living room, dripping wet, wearing nothing but a towel and a faceful of shaving creme. “Hot date?” he asked, biting his lip to stop from laughing when Alec clutched the towel to him, almost losing a nipple and a patch of chest hair to the razor in his right hand.

Alec tried to tell Magnus it was his birthday but ended up gagging when he got a mouthful of foam for his trouble. He had meant to be dressed before Magnus came back.

“You should keep the stubble, it looks good on you,” Magnus said before heading for the door.

“Wait! Goddamit!” Alec muttered, tripping over one of Maia’s shoes before he realized that Magnus was gone. The guy could move! He dashed over to the window, his stomach settling when he saw Magnus take another red rose out of the van. 

Alec ran flat out to his bedroom, wiping the shaving creme on his towel along the way. Another day without a shave wouldn’t kill him. Grabbing the outfit that he’d already chosen for the evening; a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, a navy button-down, and black leather jacket, he dragged his clothes on, cursing his still-damp skin.

Alec just had time to check the messages on his phone when he emerged into the living room, suited and booted, dousing himself with cologne along the way.

** _Jace: _ ** _ Who are the flowers from? _

** **

** _Mom: _ ** _ Is the handsome delivery driver still there? xx _

** _Izzy: _ ** _ Don’t be late!  _

** _Izzy: _ ** _ xx _

** _Clary: _ ** _ Please don’t be late, Izzy is stressing xo _

Alec flicked to the family group chat to find that Maia had informed the rest of the family about his Magn… flowers. “Great!” he mumbled, sinking down onto the couch. Noticing the last two cards, he flicked them open.

T, E

Adding them to the pile, still none the wiser, Alec looked up to see Magnus hovering in the doorway. “Why do you bring the flowers every twenty minutes?” he asked, standing to take the latest delivery.

“That was what the instructions said to do,” Magnus said, his eyes raking over Alec. Jeez, the guy scrubbed up well!  _ Hot!!!  _ His brain was shouting, the word almost flying from his lips.

“Won’t your boss get mad? You’ve been here for like, three hours,” Alec said, tossing the card onto the coffee table without reading it. Surely Magnus had better things to do than hang around outside his apartment for three hours? “Why didn’t you just deliver them all in one go?” he asked.

“No, my boss won’t be mad at me,” Magnus chuckled, leaning in the doorway so he could appreciate the sight before him for a little longer. The raised eyebrow had him elaborating further. “I am the boss. My assistant took the order from two women. The request was that I come personally, deliver a flower and card to you, every twenty minutes. That’s all I know.”

“But why did you do it?” Alec asked, moving a little closer. “You could have taken the order and given it to someone else. How would the women know?” he shrugged.

“They wouldn’t. But I was intrigued. The women paid extra. I did consider it, to be honest. But then I knocked on the door and there you were,” Magnus grinned. The guy who’d answered the door had intrigued him far more than the odd request.

“How many more deliveries should I expect?” Alec asked, his gut clenching a little when Magnus started heading toward the door.

“One,” Magnus said before he could stop himself. He wanted to say a dozen but he only had one flower and card left to deliver. “What’s the occasion, anyway?” he asked.

“It’s my birthday,” Alec said, considering canceling everything and inviting Magnus out on a date instead. The guy was handsome and intriguing, capturing his attention as nobody else had in a long time.

Magnus nodded before heading back out of the door. He only had a few more minutes before he would have to make his final delivery.

A new message pinged on Alec’s phone when Magnus disappeared. Using the message as a distraction from the disappointment that flooded him, he fell on his ass when he saw the message.

** _Max: _ ** _ We just picked her up, she’s finally ours. We’re bringing her to the party. Isn’t she perfect? _

Alec stared at the picture that his little brother had sent. Max and Declan beamed at the camera, a tiny pink bundle sitting in a car seat between them. His new niece. He brushed his finger over the picture, staring at how perfect she was.

Alec barely registered the presence at his side until he looked up, the scent of something woodsy and musky filling his nose. Magnus’ cologne.

“Beautiful,” Magnus nodded to the picture on Alec’s phone. The guy had been so engrossed that he hadn’t even noticed him returning. “This is the last one,” he said, handing the last red rose to Alec, along with the last envelope.

“Happy birthday, Alexander,” Magnus said, pulling a pink rose from behind his back and handing that over too.

Alec stared at the rose in his hand. Pink. It didn’t match the red roses in the vase at all. And Magnus had said there was only one more. “Is this from you?” he asked, looking up. To find that Magnus was gone.

Alec snapped out of the mushy funk that had come over him when he’d received the picture of his niece. Dropping his phone on the couch, he vaulted out of his apartment and down the single flight of stairs. Dashing out of the building when he reached the ground floor. Magnus’ van had already reached the corner, turning from his view.

Alec could have followed but he’d left his car keys in the apartment. He kicked himself. Why hadn’t he spent more time talking to the guy? He looked up when someone called his name. Bat, Maia’s new boyfriend.

“Hey, Alec. Uh, Maia said it would be okay if I came tonight. She wanted to introduce me to the family,” Bat said when Alec reached the sidewalk.

“Sure, come on up,” Alec said quietly, unable to pull his thoughts away from Magnus. He trudged up the stairs, silently leading Bat into his apartment.

Alec knew what his siblings were doing. They knew he hated being the center of attention so they were bringing their own news, a new partner, a new child, a proposal, to draw it away from him. He would have been grateful if he wasn’t so disappointed that Magnus was gone.

“Nice flowers,” Bat said, unable to think of anything else to say. Alec looked bummed and was already a little intimidating when he was smiling, never mind the miserable look on his face.

Alec nodded, crossing the room. He opened the last two cards, only realizing he was still clutching the pink rose when he made to pick them up. Slotting the pink rose into the vase with the others, he glanced at the cards.

N, A.

“Makes no sense,” Alec mumbled, flipping the cards over. There was nothing. No explanation. Just another two random cards with another two random letters. “I'll go see if Maia’s ready,” he said, tossing the cards onto the coffee table with the others.

Of course, Maia looked stunning in a bright yellow dress and strappy sandals with a matching clutch when Alec ducked into her apartment. Her natural curls were styled with a flower tucked behind her ear. “Bat’s here,” he said.

Maia followed Alec out, locking up before she stepped into Alec’s apartment. “Where’s Magnus?” she asked, seeing a full vase but no delivery guy.

“Gone,” Alec said, unable to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He turned away when Maia gave him a tight smile and busied herself with perfume and lipstick.

“Who’s your date?” Bat asked Alec before standing to kiss his beautiful girlfriend on the cheek.

“Huh?” Alec asked. He looked down at the table when Bat gestured to it. All of the cards had been arranged into order.

BRING A DATE XO

“It’s an anagram?” Alec asked, mentally scratching his ass. A knock on the door had him spinning on the spot to see a huge bunch of flowers floating in the doorway. But disappointment flooded him once more when a face, that was not Magnus’, peeked out from behind them.

“I have a delivery for Mr. Lightwood?”

Alec stepped forward and took the flowers, a riot of color, from the woman and signed for them. She handed him a card and went on her way.

“What does the card say?” Maia asked, taking the huge bunch of wildflowers from Alec so he could open it. The flowers were gorgeous but she could see the disappointment in her brother’s eyes.

“It says, ‘Not Maia, she doesn’t count’,” Alec said, quoting the card out loud. As the singletons of the family, they tended to band together when attending family stuff. Now he was a singleton, singular.

“Charming,” Maia huffed. She almost chucked the flowers in the trash when she noticed the message on the back of the card, pointing it out to Alec. 

“‘These are for him’,” Alec read out loud, more confused than he’d been before.  _ What the fuck?  _ The only him he could see was Bat. 

“Shit, we’re gonna be late!” Maia yelled when she looked at the clock. It was 5.45. Tucking the flowers under her arm, she grabbed Bat and dashed for the door.

Alec snatched his phone and car keys up before following the pair out. He locked up and dashed down the stairs to find Maia and Bat already in the back seat of his car. That was all he needed after his weird-ass day, to disappoint his sister after she had worked so hard to plan a nice dinner for him.

Alec was two blocks from Izzy’s brownstone when a van, or more accurately, the logo on the side of a van, caught his eye. Slamming the brakes on, the car screeched to a halt outside of a shop. He stared, barely daring to hope, seeing two men unloading the van.

“They’re for him,” Alec said, turning to look at the flowers Maia still clutched. He ignored the shocked expressions on his passengers' faces, putting two and two together and coming up with a big fat four.  _ I’m gonna kill her,  _ he thought. Probably after he hugged the life out of her.

Maia happily let go of the flowers when Alec all but snatched them from her hand. She watched him climb out of the driver's seat, practically wedging her face against her window to watch.

“Magnus?” Alec asked, approaching the two men that were unloading the van. Outside of a florist. It wasn’t just a florist, it sold all kinds of homemade candles and lotions, soaps and vases, the store's logo branded on everything.

Magnus was indeed one of the two men, Alec realized. But he was wearing black skinny jeans, a red shirt and a black vest instead of the uniform that he’d been wearing earlier.

“Alexander? What are you doing here? I thought you were going out to celebrate?” Magnus asked, unable to stop the little flip in his stomach as he smoothed his vest out.

“The two women who hired you, was one of them in her late thirties, brown hair, curvy, looks a little bit like me?” Alec asked, his heart thundering in his chest.

Magnus looked at Raphael, giving him the go-ahead to break the confidentiality clause. He was just as curious as Alec was, to be honest.

“One of them matches that description. A Mrs. Lewis, I believe the invoice was made out to,” Raphael confirmed, looking the newcomer over. Magnus hadn’t shut up about him since returning from the delivery. “The other one was skinny with red hair,” he added.

“I'm gonna kill the pair of them,” Alec muttered under his breath. He knew he had seen that logo before. It was splashed on practically everything that Izzy owned. She loved the stuff Magnus sold.

Alec stood stock still, trying to work out what his sister and sister-in-law-to-be, were up to. Then it came to him.  _ ‘Bring a date’. ‘These are for him _ ’. They had set him up. With Magnus. “Why did you leave?” he asked, turning to Magnus once more.

“Because I like you,” Magnus shrugged. He didn’t know that much about the guy. But he wanted to.

“That makes absolutely no sense,” Alec frowned, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“I don’t allow myself to become involved with customers,” Magnus clarified, aiming his elbow at Raphael when his assistant huffed out his irritation.

“But I’m not a customer, I’m a recipient, nothing more,” Alec said, shuffling on the spot, wishing they didn’t have an audience. He could feel Maia and Bat’s eyes boring into his back. Not to mention Magnus’ friend. “I didn’t pay for anything so technically, I’m not a customer,” he said hopefully.

“He’s got a point,” Raphael said, dodging away from Magnus’ elbow once more. Taking the hint, he returned to unloading the van, giving his boss/friend some privacy. Listening in the entire time, of course.

“Look, I know we just met… but, I don’t have a date tonight. Would you like to come?” Alec asked, holding the bunch of wildflowers out hopefully. “My entire family will be there but I’d really like you to come,” he thought it best to give fair warning before springing his entire family on the guy, on their first date.

“I… I would love to,” Magnus said, accepting the flowers. They were obviously from a competitor but he could excuse that. It wasn’t every day somebody gave  _ him _ a bunch of flowers. “Raphael, will you be…?”

“Go,” Raphael interjected, not even bothering to look up from his work.

Magnus followed Alec over to his car, nodding to Maia and her friend in the back seat when Alec held the passenger door open for him. 

Alec couldn’t stop the ridiculous grin from spreading over his face when he climbed into the driver’s seat and set off for his sister’s house. He couldn’t even be mad at her and Clary. Magnus was sitting right there next to him and he planned on getting to know everything there to know about the guy.

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of birthday fluff. Happy birthday, Alexander Gideon Lightwood-Bane.


End file.
